Bill and Sherri are the white, progressive-and-proud headmaster and dean of admissions at Hillcrest, a mid-tier New Hampshire boarding school. Over the last fifteen years, they’ve worked to diversify the school’s mostly white population. But when their high-achieving son Charlie’s Ivy League dreams are jeopardized, the family's reaction blasts open a deep rift between their public values and private decisions. A no-holds-barred look at privilege, power, and the perils of whiteness from the author of Bad Jews, the best-selling play in Studio Theatre history.
Runtime: This performance will run approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.
Admissions is generously underwritten
by Albert G. Lauber and Craig Hoffman
and by Joan and David Maxwell.
Joshua Harmon’s plays include Bad Jews (Roundabout Theatre Company), Significant Other (Roundabout Theatre Company; Broadway/Booth Theatre), Admissions (Lincoln Center Theater); Ivanka (staged readings across the country on Election Eve, 2016) and Skintight (upcoming at Roundabout Theatre Company). Bad Jews is one of the most produced plays in the United States of the last few years and has received international productions in Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, South Africa, and London’s West End, following sold-out runs at Theatre Royal Bath and the St. James. Fellowships include the MacDowell Colony, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and NNPN. Joshua is an associate artist at Roundabout Theatre Company and under commission from Manhattan Theatre Club. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
(As of June 2018)
Mike Donahue previously directed Rachel Bonds’ Curve of Departure and The Wolfe Twins (world premiere) at Studio. New York credits include the world premieres of Matthew Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC, The Geffen and Denver Center, Joe A. Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle Nomination, Ovation Award Nomination); Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage (MCC, Woolly Mammoth), The Moors (Playwrights Realm–NYC premiere), Phoebe in Winter (Clubbed Thumb), and The Hunters (Cherry Lane Mentor Project); Jordan Seavey’s Homos, Or Everyone In America (Labyrinth); and Ethan Lipton’s Red-Handed Otter (Playwrights Realm). Regionally, he’s directed the world premieres of Jen Silverman’s The Roommate (Humana, Williamstown, Long Wharf); Rachel Bonds’ Curve of Departure (South Coast Rep) and Swimmers (Marin); and Matthew Lopez’s Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and Lauren Feldman’s Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center). Mike is a recipient of a Fulbright to Berlin, the Drama League Fall Fellowship, The Boris Sagal Fellowship at Williamstown, and was the Artistic Director of the Yale Summer Cabaret for two seasons. Mike is a graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama.
(As of January 2019)
Sarah Marshall returns to Studio Theatre for Doubt: A Parable after appearing in Admissions last season. Sarah has the honor of having performed at Studio Theatre more than any other performer in its history. Some of her Studio credits include The Apple Family Cycle, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Prometheus, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Three Sisters, Miss Margarida’s Way, Sylvia, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Baltimore Waltz, When I Was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout, My Sister in this House, Playing for Time, A Taste of Honey, The Visit, and Medea. She has performed at many Washington theatres including Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Signature Theatre, and The Kennedy Center. Sarah has taught acting for 30 years and currently teaches at Georgetown University.
Marni Penning makes her Studio Theatre debut. She is an audiobook narrator, playwright, two-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, and other-award-winning multi-hyphenate who co-founded Cincinnati Shakespeare Company in 1994, where she played over 35 roles, including Juliet, Kate, Rosalind, Beatrice, and Hamlet. Recent credits include The Agitators and Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies at Mosaic; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Book of Will at Round House; and Are You Now..., and The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek at MetroStage. Other local and regional credits include Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Folger Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, Orlando Shakespeare, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and Georgia Shakespeare. Film and television credits include Mona Lisa Smile, Saturday Night Live, All My Children, and Guiding Light.
(As of January 2019)
Meg Gibson makes her Studio Theatre debut. In DC, she was seen at The Kennedy Center with The Gabriels Cycle. A resident of New York, her Off Broadway credits include Measure for Measure, Talking About Race, King Lear, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Temptation, Fen, and Casanova, all for The Joseph Papp Public Theater. She originated roles in Keith Reddin’s Human Error at the Atlantic Theater and Daniel Talbott’s Slipping at Rattlestick Theater. Other Off Broadway credits include Manhattan Theatre Club, The Next Wave Festival at BAM, E.S.T., as well as multiple appearances with The Summer Shorts Festival, including The Sentinels by Matthew Lopez. Regionally she has worked for The Old Globe, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Mark Taper Forum, American Repertory Theatre (company member), Westport Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Salt Lake Acting Company, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, The Huntington Theatre, as well as The O’Neill Playwrights Conference and The Sundance Institute. Her television credits include Treme, The Americans, Rubicon, Sex and The City, The Gabriels Cycle for PBS, and multiple appearances on all versions of Law and Order. Upcoming appearances include Modern Love for Amazon and Constance for TNT. Latest film work includes Vox Lux, Noah Wise, Phenom, and the web series It’s Freezing Out There.
(As of January 2019)
Kevin Kilner makes his Studio Theatre debut. On Broadway he was a part of the 50th Anniversary production of The Glass Menagerie with Julie Harris, Calista Flockhart, and Zeljko Ivanek. Off Broadway, he was in the original cast of Donald Margulies’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends at the Variety Arts Theatre and Lemon Sky at the Clurman Theatre. Regional credits include Other Desert Cities at Bucks County Playhouse, Time Stands Still at the Adobe Rose Theatre, and The Christians at The Denver Center. Films credits include The Unattainable Story, Paranoia, Raising Helen, A Cinderella Story, and Home Alone III. Recent television credits include The Code, The Blacklist, The Good Wife, and House Of Cards.
(As of January 2019)
Ephraim Birney makes his Studio Theatre debut. His Off Broadway credits include Good Person Of Szechuan at LaMama Theater and the Public Theater. Off-Off Broadway credits include The Rock Garden at the Drama League Directorfest, An Intimate Evening with Typhoid Mary at the New Ohio Theater, and Marla and Her Prayers at New Perspectives Company. His television credits include Gotham, Are We There Yet?, and The Americans. He can be seen starring in the upcoming web series, Clickbait, which he wrote and directed.
(As of January 2019)
Amith Chandrashaker's recent credits include The Lucky Ones (Drama Desk nomination, Ars Nova), Blue Ridge (The Atlantic), Cardinal (Second Stage), Twelfth Night (The Public), Fairview (Soho Rep) Fire in Dreamland (The Public Theater), Her Requiem (LCT3), Time’s Journey… (PlayCo.), Stuffed (The Westside Theatre), FADE (Primary Stages), [PORTO] (The Bushwick Starr/The Women’s Project), Alligator (New Georges/ Sol Project), Seven Spots on the Sun (Rattlestick), and Quiet, Comfort (Hoi Polloi). Opera credits include The Flying Dutchman (Houston Grand Opera), Falstaff (Opera Omaha), The Scarlet Letter (Opera Colorado), and Abduction from the Seraglio (Atlanta Opera). Dance credits include premieres by Alexander Ekman, Aszure Barton, Kate Weare, Liz Gerring, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Rennie Harris, Aalto Ballettt Theatre Essen, Staatstheater Nürnberg, The National Dance Company of Wales, and The Royal New Zealand Ballet.
(As of January 2019)
Caite Hevner is a New York-based scenic and projection designer. Broadway designs include In Transit. DC/Baltimore credits include How to Succeed… at The Kennedy Center, She the People at Woolly Mammoth, Smokey Joe’s Café at Arena Stage, The Book of Joseph at Everyman Theatre, Lookingglass Alice at Baltimore Center Stage, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife at Theater J, and Fetch Clay Make Man at Round House Theatre. Select Off Broadway credits include MCC, Atlantic Theater Company, Primary Stages, Roundabout Theatre Company, and New York Theater Workshop Next Door. Regional credits include Guthrie, Seattle 5th Avenue, Alley, McCarter, Williamstown, Alliance, Alabama Shakespeare, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Pasadena Playhouse, and Long Wharf.
(As of January 2019)
Kathleen Geldard returns to Studio Theatre after designing Cry It Out, Curve of Departure, Animal, Choir Boy, Jumpers for Goalposts, Tribes, and Invisible Man. Other recent regional credits include Macbeth at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Misery and Shakespeare in Love at Cincinnati Playhouse; and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime; and Humana Festivals 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Other regional credits include Arena Stage, Portland Center Stage, Huntington Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, The Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Folger Theatre. She is an artistic associate for Signature Theatre.
(As of January 2019)
Roc Lee is a DC-based composer and sound designer. Credits include The Price, The Year of Magical Thinking, and Mother Courage at Arena Stage (Helen Hayes Award nomination); Charm, Hooded: Or Being Black for Dummies, and Ulysses On Bottles at Mosaic Theater Company; Annie, Thurgood, Fickle Fancy Farce, and Dial M for Murder at Olney Theatre Center; Love & Information at Forum Theatre; Our Town at Faction of Fools; Hello My Name Is... with the Welders at Rhizome DC; and Seneca El Raton de Biblioteca and In the Heights at GALA Hispanic Theater. Mr. Lee holds a Master of Music in Stage Music Composition from CUA.
(As of November 2017)
Allie Roy returns to Studio after last stage managing If I Forget. Other Studio credits include Translations, Curve of Departure, Straight White Men, Murder Ballad, Silence! The Musical, and the world premiere of Animal for the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Regional credits include West Side Story in concert with the NSO as well as Love, Factually at The Kennedy Center; the world premieres of Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing and Diner as well as The Scottsboro Boys, West Side Story, and Elmer Gantry at Signature Theatre; the world premiere of After the War as well as When January Feels Like Summer and Ulysses on Bottles at Mosaic Theater Company; and The Originalist at Arena Stage. Upcoming regional projects include Grand Hotel at Signature Theatre and Describe the Night at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
(As of January 2019)
Lauren Halvorsen is in her ninth season as Studio’s Associate Literary Director. Her dramaturgy credits here include Doubt, P.Y.G. or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, Admissions, Kings, If I Forget, Vietgone, The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, The Father, Three Sisters, The Hard Problem, Hand to God, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Chimerica, The Wolfe Twins, Belleville, Water by the Spoonful, Tribes, The Real Thing, The Motherfucker with the Hat, The Aliens, Bachelorette, The Big Meal, and Time Stands Still. Previously, Lauren spent three seasons as Literary Manager of The Alley Theatre. She was the Artistic Associate of the WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory for six years and has worked in various artistic capacities for The Kennedy Center, City Theatre Company, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, First Person Arts Festival, and The Wilma Theater. Lauren is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College.
(As of December 2019)
New York credits include: Primary Stages, Theater Breaking Through Barriers, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Pomegranate Arts, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Flea Theater, The New School for Drama, New Georges, Red Fern Theatre Company, TerraNova Collective, New Dramatists, The Pearl Theater Company, Studio 42, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dog Run Repertory Theatre Company, and Worth Street Theater Company. Regionally, she has worked with Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Passage Theatre, and Fairfield Theatre Company.
(As of March 2019)
